What Does Acts 24:8 Mean?
Commanding his accusers to come to you, by sifting whom you yourself may know all these things, of which we accuse him.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Commanding his accusers to come unto thee: by examining of whom thyself mayest take knowledge of all these things, whereof we accuse him.THE KEY
The verse separates accusation from knowledge: the person charged is still to be examined before the matter can be known.
THE MEANING
A charge reaches you as someone else’s account; it is not yet the same as knowing. Here, direct examination opens a path from accusation toward recognition of what the matter contains.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that being accused means being known: the person at the center of the charge is still to be examined.
THE ROOT
ἀνακρίνας
anakrínas from anakrínō
GROWS FROM
κρίνω
krínō
to distinguish, separate, or decide
“by sifting whom” in this verse is anakrínas from anakrínō. The Greek verb translated “examining” carries the sense of distinguishing and weighing, not merely collecting information. The same verb appears in 1 Corinthians 2:15 as “judgeth,” revealing examination as an act of discernment.
ALSO GROWS
krínō: judge, distinguish, decide
κρίνω
It shows that examining the charge involves weighing what is presented.
diakrínō: distinguish, discern
διακρίνω
This related form makes explicit the separating work implicit in careful examination.
ἐπιγνῶναι
epignōnai from epiginṓskō
GROWS FROM
γινώσκω
ginṓskō
to know, recognize, or perceive
The phrase translated “take knowledge” uses epiginṓskō, a form built on ginṓskō: to know or recognize. The wording links knowing with coming into contact with the matter, rather than simply receiving the accusers’ account.
ALSO GROWS
ginṓskō: know, recognize, perceive
γινώσκω
The base verb shows the act of knowing beneath the fuller form in the verse.
epígnōsis: recognition, knowledge
ἐπίγνωσις
This related noun carries the same knowing-root, connecting examination with the recognition it can yield.
THE PATTERN
An accusation becomes discernible knowledge through examination rather than through the force of the first account.
And the judges shall search well; and, behold, if the witness is a witness of lies, and has answered a lie against his brother;The aligned one at the head of his own contention seems straight, but his neighbor comes and searches him out.These were of nobler birth than those in Thessalonica, who received the word with all eagerness of heart, and sifted the writings daily, whether these things held so.THE THREAD
But the one of the breath judges all things, yet he himself is judged by no one.The Greek verb translated “judgeth” is anakrinō, the same verb translated “examining” here. The shared word reveals examination as discernment: what is alleged is brought under judgment before it becomes knowledge.
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